Sunday, September 30, 2018

If Your Gift Is Writing (or Whatever Your Gifts Are), Do It to Honor God and to Benefit Others (Read 1 Kings 3:1-15)

So far, King Solomon had carefully lived by God's Wonderful Law and He gave him success. Solomon asked God for wisdom, and with it, God gave him economic prosperity and fame. "[Give] to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil…," (1 Kings 3:9, NKJV) asked Solomon. God was pleased with Solomon's prayer, He replied, "Because of you have asked this thing… for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked…" (1 Kings 3:11-13). Solomon asked for wisdom to lead God's people; God gave him the wisdom to serve others. In short, God had given you gifts, talents, and potentials so that we can use it to do His will. When we do, everyone else benefits.

"I recently flew to St. Louis on a commercial airline," recalled Max Lucado in his book Cure for the Common Life (2005), "The attendant was so grumpy I thought she'd lemons for breakfast. She made her instructions clear: sit down, buckle up, and shut up! I dared not request anything lest she pushes the eject button. Perhaps I caught her on a wrong day, or maybe she caught herself in the wrong career.

Two weeks later I took another flight. This attendant had been imported from heaven. She introduced herself to each passenger, had us greet each other, and then sang a song over the intercom! I had to ask her, ‘Do you like your work?' ‘I love it!' she beamed. ‘For years I taught elementary school and relished each day. But then they promoted me. I went from a class of kids to an office of papers. Miserable! I resigned, took some months to study myself, found this opportunity, and snagged it. Now I can't wait to come to work!'…

"You can do something no one else can do in a fashion no one else can do it. Exploring and extracting your uniqueness excites you, honors God, and expands His Kingdom. So ‘make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that' (Galatians 6:4, The Message). Discover and deploy your knacks," concluded Max. If you were given Solomon's opportunity to ask for anything, what would you choose? Would your requests benefit others if God granted them?